"Even though the City Council has been demanding for
years that we vacate the police department's leased space, with new budget
troubles brewing we simply cannot afford to proceed with a new police
headquarters at this time," Bernero said. "Instead I propose that we set aside
the money in a dedicated fund that can only be used to keep police officers on
the streets protecting our neighborhoods and families."

The mayor had recommended a $436,000 appropriation in his
proposed Fiscal Year 2013 budget for the new headquarters.

Those funds will instead be put into what the administration
is calling a Police Officer Preservation Fund that will cover the cost of
retaining 11 officers currently funded by a federal grant, Bernero said.

The same amount will be set aside in the following year's
budget.

The administration said the cost of retaining the
officers will be about $1.2 million annually when the grant runs out in Fiscal
Year 2015.

Bernero said new budget challenges made proceeding with
the new police headquarters "inadvisable."

There's also a $500,000 drop in revenue sharing payments
from the Lansing Board of Water and Light this year, the administration said,
contributing to an end-of-the-year deficit city officials alluded to at a
meeting this week.

Bernero and the Lansing City Council have been at odds
over the proposed headquarters since the administration presented its proposed
budget in detail.

While the council advocated for a consolidated
headquarters for some time, they balked at the amount of money being
appropriated just for a study of the project and design work, some of it from a
voter-approved millage directing tax revenues to police operations.

There was also a claim from the council that the mayor's
office refused to share the results of the study.